International student travel: former insider's perspective

Join Teachers.Net

Chatboards

Recent Groups

Fieldtrips

MEMBERS

2 Members

+ Join Group

Pinned Posts

ALLAll Teachers

Teachers.Net LIVE CHAT Support group - Tues eve!

Featured Jobs

Full-timeMontessori Teacher

Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

TemporaryTeachers, rural schools

Peace River North School District

Full-timeHead Teacher: 2nd/3rd Grades – Mills College Children’s School

Mills College

Teaching Jobs on Teachers.Net

Featured Job special only $39!

https://teachers.net/jobs

Become a Teachers.Net sponsor!

Fieldtrips Chatboard

International student travel: former insider's perspective

by Alisa

Jan 16, 2010

*Many student travel companies offer essentially the same product--ACIS, EF, Explorica, NETC, Passports use the same hotels, same vendors.

*be careful of how a company may spin this in discussing their edge over another---sometimes, when it comes to price, it comes down to how well, the company was able to negotiate a contract.

*be nice to your point of contact at the company, and/or to the person who is helping you plan your tour--if you are a jerk to the person helping you--they are less likely to go the extra mile to fulfill you specific requests (doesn't this go for most things in life?).

*on that note, it is important to remember that the educational travel employee/the program specialist/ tour consultant is a human being and common courtesy is appreciated. When I worked at XYZ company, teachers, for no apparent reason, would yell at me, send emails in capital letters, and sometimes were very condescending.

*more often than not, teachers submit...See More*Many student travel companies offer essentially the same product--ACIS, EF, Explorica, NETC, Passports use the same hotels, same vendors.

*be careful of how a company may spin this in discussing their edge over another---sometimes, when it comes to price, it comes down to how well, the company was able to negotiate a contract.

*be nice to your point of contact at the company, and/or to the person who is helping you plan your tour--if you are a jerk to the person helping you--they are less likely to go the extra mile to fulfill you specific requests (doesn't this go for most things in life?).

*on that note, it is important to remember that the educational travel employee/the program specialist/ tour consultant is a human being and common courtesy is appreciated. When I worked at XYZ company, teachers, for no apparent reason, would yell at me, send emails in capital letters, and sometimes were very condescending.

*more often than not, teachers submit their information to the company because they are interested in traveling. I would receive a web form and when I would try to reach out to the teacher who gave me their cell phone number--I would get yelled at, hung up on, and told to stop calling. IF you don't want to be called, DON'T GIVE OUT YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION.

**If you are interested in student travel, because you as a teacher receive points, money, and a free trip--then chances, this is not a good thing for you to be doing---shouldn't you be doing this for the students?

**I think it's wrong when a teacher enrolls three students on the tour, and then cancels because he or she was not able to recruit enough students to get their free place. This is wrong because when you cancel a tour last minutes,students and family members lose money---how selfish can you be? (this leads me back the previous bullet point, when you are planning this tour, you should take into account the STUDENTS, and not yourself).

**anyways, these were things I wish I could tell teachers but couldn't.

Comment

(1)

report post

instructours Thanks for your candor.

But a couple of points:

Sometimes teachers take it out on the sales reps because of communication received from the other departments in the tour company. Many of these departments are not even in the US. A local rep may work with a teacher and submit requests that are not honored by the vendor department. ...See MoreThanks for your candor.

But a couple of points:

Sometimes teachers take it out on the sales reps because of communication received from the other departments in the tour company. Many of these departments are not even in the US. A local rep may work with a teacher and submit requests that are not honored by the vendor department. Perhaps a billing statement arrived with additional fees etc. The dates are changed. These things do infuriate the organizers. It's been demonstrated that departments within most tour operations do not communicate with each another and actually can undermine the one real human voice that these teachers been dealing with. There's a lot of 'bait and switching' in this business and many of the sales reps are unaware of this. Of course, one really shouldn't be rude, but I do understand the frustration.

You singled out the teachers, where the perks are concerned, and that certainly is a major issue, but what about those companies that offer them? It was the European-based companies that introduced these bribes to the US. Teachers have been lead to believe that these practices are legal because they are on all the websites and brochures. Indeed, in all states and provinces, it is as unlawful to offer these to public school teachers as it is to accept them. (Private schools remain a gray area as they are subject to their respective schools' bylaws. It still remains unethical.)

One of the reasons students and teachers lose money when a trip is cancelled is because the companies either did not offer comprehensive cancellation insurance, or they are guilty of an equally unlawful practice of offering travel vouchers instead of cash or credit card refunds. In all states consumer laws specify that the customer has a choice of type of refund. The Seller of travel Law in Washington State and California specifies this.

Ontil the educational community and parents start to become wiser consumers, these practices will contine and students will continue to be shortchanged.

On 1/16/10, Alisa wrote: > *Many student travel companies offer essentially the same > product--ACIS, EF, Explorica, NETC, Passports use the same > hotels, same vendors. > > *be careful of how a company may spin this in discussing > their edge over another---sometimes, when it comes to price, > it comes down to how well, the company was able to negotiate > a contract. > > *be nice to your point of contact at the company, and/or to > the person who is helping you plan your tour--if you are a > jerk to the person helping you--they are less likely to go > the extra mile to fulfill you specific requests (doesn't > this go for most things in life?). > > *on that note, it is important to remember that the > educational travel employee/the program specialist/ tour > consultant is a human being and common courtesy is > appreciated. When I worked at XYZ company, teachers, for no > apparent reason, would yell at me, send emails in capital > letters, and sometimes were very condescending. > > *more often than not, teachers submit their information to > the company because they are interested in traveling. I > would receive a web form and when I would try to reach out > to the teacher who gave me their cell phone number--I would > get yelled at, hung up on, and told to stop calling. IF you > don't want to be called, DON'T GIVE OUT YOUR CONTACT > INFORMATION. > > **If you are interested in student travel, because you as a > teacher receive points, money, and a free trip--then > chances, this is not a good thing for you to be > doing---shouldn't you be doing this for the students? > > **I think it's wrong when a teacher enrolls three students > on the tour, and then cancels because he or she was not able > to recruit enough students to get their free place. This is > wrong because when you cancel a tour last minutes,students > and family members lose money---how selfish can you be? > (this leads me back the previous bullet point, when you are > planning this tour, you should take into account the > STUDENTS, and not yourself). > > **anyways, these were things I wish I could tell teachers > but couldn't. >

Jan 16, 2010

report post